Pats' Leschyshyn on the comeback trail

The 18-year-old centre is back practising with the Regina Pats after the longest off-season of his career — a seven-month struggle that began Feb. 3 when he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Leschyshyn underwent knee surgery a few days later and — slowly but surely — began working his way back.

“I’m happy with how things are going at this point,” said Leschyshyn, who has been skating at home in Saskatoon for about a month. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I still have some work to do to get to that 100-per-cent mark but it’s good to know that the end is near.”

Leschyshyn was on the ice last weekend when Regina opened main camp. The team initially held him out of scrimmages but he has the green light to ramp up his physical activities with an eye toward Regina’s regular-season opener on Sept. 22.

“He’s right on schedule,” said head coach/GM John Paddock. “Training camp was sort of his own target date if things went right. He has been cleared. It’s now a matter of comfortability and erring a little bit on the side of caution. There’s still a time frame where you’re not really feeling like you were before. We’re obviously expecting big things from him in every area and we’re confident he’s going to be there on opening night.”

When Leschyshyn first learned the severity of his injury, he knew it would be a difficult rehab process. Some of the toughest days from a mental standpoint were late in the winter when he was on crutches and couldn’t do anything strenuous.

The physical work began a few weeks later as he started to rebuild strength in the knee.

“It has been a long process,” he reflected. “It was a ton of work, probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through in my life. It was probably just as tough physically as it was mentally.”

Leschyshyn is relieved to say the worst now appears to be over. He also believes the adversity he has endured will benefit him in the long run.

“(They say) what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger — I think that’s pretty true in this case,” he said. “I’m obviously not happy that this happened but I got to take some time away and kind of become a student of the game and see how different guys perform and what I can do to improve my game.”

Despite missing a significant chunk of last season, Leschyshyn’s injury didn’t hurt his stock for the 2017 NHL draft — going in the second round (62nd overall) to the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Leschyshyn evidently made an impression on the Knights while recording 17 goals and 40 points in just 47 games prior to the injury. He’s eager to build upon those numbers this season, but it might take a little time to get completely back up to speed.

“I’m trying to get the power back in the first couple steps; that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “Other than that I’m feeling really confident. I just have to take it one day at a time.”

Although it goes against his natural instincts, Leschyshyn is trying to remember that it’s important to pace himself at this juncture, resisting the temptation to do too much too soon.

After all, the WHL’s 72-game schedule is a marathon, not a sprint.

“As much as I want to get back, I don’t want to have this happen to me again,” he added. “I’m doing everything I can. It’s going to be a long season ahead so missing a few pre-season games isn’t gong to be the end of the world.”

EXTRAS: The Pats have signed four prospects to standard WHL player contracts: F Tristen Robins, F Cole Dubinsky, D Ryker Evans and D Parker Gavlas. Robins (fourth round) and Evans (10th round) were selected in the 2016 bantam draft. Dubinsky was a fourth-rounder in 2017 while Gavlas, 17, was an undrafted list pickup from the midget AAA Battlefords Stars … The Pats open their pre-season schedule on Thursday (7 p.m., Brandt Centre) against the Saskatoon Blades.

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